Hikari no Tabi: Planet to Planet
by Violent Peaceful Child
Summary: Toma, Panboukin, Totepo, and the wounded Celipa land at the abandoned Planet Trade Headquarters seeking answers... but what answers do they find? And what are their new challenges? [In progress]
1. The Planet Trade Headquarters

Hikari no Tabi  
"Planet to Planet"

* * *

**Author's Note:** This is the second story of "Hikari no Tabi". It is not necessary to read the first story, "An Amity Revived", but it is recommended. In short, this story is about the revival of Bardock's crew: Toma, Panboukin, Totepo, and Celipa.  
Warnings are: little cursing, very tiny citrus (Actually, just perverted talking -_-;;. Can't stop men from making those kind of jokes, now can we?)  
Now, enjoy!

* * *

The Planet Trade Headquarters

The planet was a dark lifeless color, but against an ebon background and behind a red-tinted window Toma immediately mistook it for violet. He thought of it to be a bizarre color for a planet; the only colors he ever saw on a planet were maroon, azure, and a vivid orange with a much lighter hue of each respective color to represent the gases. Purple just seemed awkward for his tastes, but he knew that he could not control the natural paint of a planet.

Another peculiar thing about this planet was that it appeared to have no atmosphere. There were no swirling clouds. Toma was quite certain, however, that there **was** an atmosphere. Why would a large trade federation have any of its command centers on a planet with no oxygen? It was ridiculous when more than half of its members could not breathe without air!

The planet was quickly expanding in the window as the tiny ship glided closer and closer to it. Toma slumped back into his chair and let out a breath of relief. Almost there. He was nervous because he anticipated the reactions of the people down on that planet. Oh, he knew that he should be confident when he took that single step out of the pod to show those Trade members that he wasn't afraid of returning. He was not afraid that he risked his own life as well as his comrades' lives merely by their arrival. But would he be able to hide the umbrage he had toward Freeza once he came face-to-face with him?

"You don't need to worry about that now," he reminded himself quietly. The sub-leader sighed again, and then leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees. His head relaxed on his palms while he stared out the window. "Just wait until the time comes."

Toma noticed the three spacepods in front of his and lifted a corner of his mouth up into his cheek. Somehow it made him feel better to see all of them in a single window. After he noticed the one in the lead, his spirits brightened with the knowledge that Celipa was still alive. Something was telling him that she was, no matter how bad her injuries were the last time he saw her and no matter how long it had been since then. Funny thing though, since it has only been a standard day since they lifted off Meatsei. And even then, she reassured him and the others that she would survive the trip.

He didn't believe in miracles, but he did know that ** something** happened to her to allow her to live as long as she did. He wasn't sure exactly what, but he had a really strong feeling it was whatever-it-was-that-had-them-resurrected's doings.

Resurrected. That was what he and the others were. Toma never knew in his entire lifetime that such things were even possible, for the thought of revival had never even entered his mind once during his first lifetime. So when he awoke on Meatsei, he merely thought that he fell unconscious after he talked to Bardock, but after seeing the other three alive and well when he caught up with them told him that he really did die. There was only one valid reason for that: he knew for sure that at least Panboukin had been killed.

A strong vibration interrupted his thoughts, and he sat upright and shook his head in irritation. Yes, for sure there was an atmosphere. There just weren't any clouds to show for it. Too bad the spacepod was a little old; if it had been more active then maybe the ride would be smoother.

Not so long after, the pod was going along efficiently as it descended towards the earth. As the pod continued downward, Toma suddenly felt another pull of anxiety at his leg. The time was almost near for him and the others to face a new and anticipated challenge.

* * *

The first sound Panboukin expected to hear once he stepped out of the spacepod was at least some slurred chatter coming from the headquarter building. Instead, his ears met nothing. Nothing except for two other automatic doors that had opened after his, and even after that he still heard nothing. The vicinity was utterly quiet. The little critters made no noise, but they were probably killed out right away. There was no breeze. It was like he was in a sound-resistant room, and he did not find that a pleasing feeling.

He stole a glimpse of the sky and saw that it was perfectly clear. Too clear, actually. He could see many stars and planets and moons without the aid of a telescope or squinting his eyes. He felt like he was on a rock planet. But he wasn't on a rock planet; there were many trees and plants growing as well as lakes and streams sprinkling the terrain. Who would ever think that landing pads would be right next to such scenery and yet a good distance away from the command center?

When Panboukin's eyes met the design of the headquarters, he saw practically nothing new. Each section of the building had dome-shaped roofs and rounded lofty towers with dark windows dotted in an aligned format on them. The only real difference he saw between Vegetasei's building structures and this planet's building structure was the beaks near the top of the towers. Otherwise, the building seemed perfectly normal to him.

Panboukin grunted as he walked over to the spacepod right next to his: Celipa's. He was not happy to see that it had not opened yet. It also discouraged him greatly, and he wondered if Celipa had told them that she would be fine during the journey just so they wouldn't worry about her so much. He knew for sure that she could not be tired at all; she had acquired plenty of rest while she was unconscious. At least, she didn't sound tired or weak the last time he talked to her. Could that have been a little play as well?

"She had better not be dead," he warned his two companions when he caught up with them. Totepo stood solemnly at the edge of the landing pad with his arms folded. Toma knelt next to the ship, and his eyes peered through the window to make sure that she was still alive. Panboukin stood a couple feet away from the older man, his threatening glare locked onto Toma.

"She's not," Toma assured them. He turned his head towards them with a small smirk. "Just sleeping. Good thing, too, so I won't have to deal with her struggling when I take her in."

"You're going to do it?" Panboukin questioned. He tried his best not to show amusement. But he failed. Miserably. He couldn't help but to sneer, "May I ask why?"

Toma knew that Panboukin was trying to taunt him and did not appreciate it. He narrowed his flaming eyes, but went ahead and answered the question.

"I owe her," he snarled, syncopating each syllable. He stood up and turned his back towards the other two Saiya-jin. The pod was met with a defiant stare that was barking at it to open up.

Panboukin held back his snickers with pursed lips. He always assumed, and he assumed that Toma had stronger feelings for Celipa than anyone else he had ever known --even more than he did for Bardock. He never told Toma before, but he already knew that the sub-leader suspected that he was poking fun at the fact that many people accused both Celipa and Toma of being a couple in the past. Luckily, Celipa had no clue of the rumors that had gone around on Vegetasei. She wasn't dense, but she never noticed Panboukin's jeers that was directed towards the two of them.

"I'm going to need a scouter or a remote control to open this thing up," Toma stated glumly.

Panboukin knew that they had wasted enough time already. The longer that they waited, the better chance for Celipa to pass away. "We don't have the time for that," he said, still unable to hide his arrogance. Toma did volunteer to take her in, after all. That only opened new doors of fun. "Looks like you're going to have to wake her up."

Toma turned sideways so that he could easily glance back and forth between the pod and the two Saiya-jin, his face transformed into a look of aggravation. He tried to come up with a good comeback, but Panboukin knew him well enough that he wouldn't be able to, especially in a situation such as this.

He never had been so right.

"Damn it," Toma growled. He turned back to the female inhabited ship in accusation. "I guess I have no choice."

"One thing though, Toma," Panboukin warned. "Don't try to wake her up the way you tried with me back on Meatsei. That would just make things worse." He glanced at Totepo, who had been extremely quiet all this time, with a gleam in his eye. "I almost feel sorry for him."

Totepo exhaled slightly, a smirk almost creeping up on his face. Panboukin didn't have to admit that this situation was getting very interesting and humorous, for Totepo knew it as well. At least, it was interesting and humorous for those not in Toma's situation.

But when Celipa finally woke up, it became ugly for all of them.

* * *

It was a very strange-looking ship, and very small as well. The nose of the alien craft was almost triangular, the tip of it cut off so the front end was flat. At the base of the triangle was a crescent with two pod shaped structures on each end. Underneath the pod windows were four small holes, the upper two halfway outside, the bottom two all the way inside. Like any normal spaceship, the very back of the ship had two large cylinders jetting out. Those, of course, were the engines.

This was the ship _Senchuu_. It was owned by a group of six Pairetos, three Butsudo-jin and three Roisei-jin.

The Pairetos were infamous throughout the entire galaxy as scavengers, thieves, grave robbers. But most of all, they were pirates. Any specific types of piracy they were skilled at? Yes. Space, land, and air.

That was why they were galactic outlaws.

* * *

The last thing that Totepo expected this place to be was abandoned.

It was very apparent that it had been deserted a long time ago. Moth-eaten fabric was draped around every object. Once inanimate cobwebs that were hanging down from the ceiling and corners of the walls were now swaying with the movements of the Saiya-jin's walk. The air was very stale as the dust danced gracefully in it. The odor of old and moldy was never a good thing to smell.

The original plan had been to get Celipa to the medical facilities as quickly as possible and let the doctors take over for them. Afterwards they would just do whatever came up, let it be questions to answer, questions to ask, a meeting with some of the elites to discuss about the background of the Saiya-jin; it really didn't matter. Just as long as answers came along. Now that this place had no signs of recent activity, there was a "slight" change in plans.

Toma still decided to take on the responsibility of getting Celipa to a healing tank. Of course he was going to make sure it worked first, but either way Totepo suspected it would be futile to even attempt to get her in. Celipa already insisted plentiful times that she was perfectly fine. She even tried to prove her point by standing without any bodies to lean on, but her expression of pain was quite evident. She was outvoted, much to her dismay.

Panboukin chose to see if any of the armor was still durable and check to make sure that none of the clothes had decayed. He was doing it partly for Celipa, who was in a desperate need of a new set of clothes, but he mainly wanted to do it for the entire crew. Especially since everyone except Toma's skin had been irritated by the shattered breastplates. Besides, they still needed to look their best for wherever they were to head to after this planet.

Totepo was left with the decision of the next planet to go to and call as their new home. Not only that, but he had to find out whatever information he could about how the Planet Trade broke down, how long it happened, and what happened to Vegetasei and the Saiya-jin. It was from that information he was going to determine where they could go. Oh, perhaps only this headquarters had been abandoned; there was rumored to be at least over seventy more bases. Nonetheless, all the bases should have the same information locked into their banks. However, Totepo's main concern was that the computers in this base still worked.

Everyone was a bit weary about separating again, considering what had happened on Meatsei. Toma assured everyone that he'd stay with Celipa in the medical room to prevent too much of a separation. Although Celipa didn't look very happy with that, she knew she had no choice. Luckily Panboukin agreed to find the scouters so that the crew could keep in contact with each other. They should be in the wardrobe anyway. According to Totepo's logic, if the scouters still worked, the computers should as well. Therefore, Totepo was not to be left out, for he could be easily located.

He finally reached a closed door during his walk, and he immediately knew that this was the control room. It was on the uppermost level of the entire headquarters and at the end of the corridor, so there was really nothing else it could be. He found the button to open them and wiped away the dust. Perhaps it will work if it wasn't clogged up as much.

The doors squeaked open. It was worse than nails on a chalkboard, but at least it opened. It was this fact that brightened up Totepo's spirits that the computers worked as well.

He took a step inside and immediately coughed. Dry, sour air. It was worse in this room than it was out in the hall. He knew the reason for that though. More of the fresh air from outside was able to enter, but in here everything seemed to be just about sealed. The computer consoles and tables were covered with blankets, much like the objects of the rest of the building. They weren't moldy, but there was a thin layer of dust upon them. Therefore, Totepo was even more reassured that the computers would work.

But since when were the Planet Trade members so thoughtful? If they knew they weren't coming back, then why did they bother to care for the computers?

Well, any information about that may be provided in the files. It truly didn't matter, though.

Totepo lifted one of the sheets from the consoles carefully as to not let any irritating particles land into the system. After he threw it behind his back, he stared at the keys with bemusement. He had not a clue which button did what. He didn't want to waste too much time, so he placed a finger on a random button --specifically, a red key near the top that was not sticking out.

Everything turned on. The computers, the lights, everything. Totepo exhaled a breath of relief; not all was for loss anymore. Then he set out to do what Saiya-jin hate to do the most.

Research.

* * *

Visit the[ Hikari no Tabi][1] website!

   [1]: http://violentpeacefulchild.tripod.com



	2. Rewarding Frustration

Rewarding Frustration

The medical center was in shockingly great shape with only a few stray cobwebs printed on the corners of the walls and furniture. The fluorescent lights worked just fine with the exception of the mini "thunder storms" that occurred every so often. With the lights on, both of the Saiya-jin easily noticed the specks of dust that lightly covered the tables and the domes of the rejuvenation tanks. It was not as bad as the outside and the other rooms; after all, a hospital, may it be tiny or large, was required to have sterile rooms. Perhaps that was what kept this room almost immune to the aging process.

Most of the vital medical computers had been air-vacuumed with a translucent sheet, and that included the rejuvenation tanks' computers. It would be useless if there was no more liquid, for without the curative water no one could be healed. It was not magic that controlled these machines; no one could get in a tank to be healed without getting wet!

Since there were separate water reservoirs for each tank, Toma could not be quite certain with testing. There were severe consequences, such as the fact that the test water is the only water there was left. If that was the case, then he would have just gone and made another fatal mistake for another. So while he was arguing aloud with Celipa, he had a serious debate in his head over what he should do so that he wouldn't make a single mistake.

He knew that having two separate arguments at the same exact time ranked as one of the top most difficult tasks known to the beings of the universe. Therefore the barbells of stress took a ride on his shoulders, and he hated for such things to have a free trip with him.

"I am **fine**," Celipa protested. A bonfire burned in her dark eyes, but that didn't take away the fact that she was lying. She stood with her back against the side of the counter to make it look like she could stand on her own. Toma knew better. He just wasn't sure if he should feel proud or annoyed that she was being persistent.

"Tell me, how many times will I have to listen to that poor excuse?" Toma snapped as he glared at one of the computer consoles. His irritation started to make its appearance, for his fingers drilled into the skin of his upper arms. Celipa did not seem to notice at all.

"Until you give up and let me just get some new clothing."

"I told you, Panboukin's taking care of that for us," he explained as calmly as he possibly could, but his low voice still trembled. "Do you really want scars all over your body?"

She just rolled her eyes and sighed out of exasperation. That only annoyed Toma further, since **he **was the one that should be in the state of verbal exhaustion. "I don't have wounds on every single limb," she pointed out. "It should be obvious, that. And they're healing already!"

"They're also infected," he retorted sharply. With that statement he loosened up a little too triumphantly, in the belief that he won that argument and could go on to continue the one in his head. To test, or not to test, that was the question. But his thoughts were interrupted by the young woman's incensed response.

"Damn you. Why should I be concerned with that?"

Toma rotated his head in order to face her, his eyes and mouth arranged of plead and aggravation. This time he sounded exactly the way he intended, and he hoped that it would convince her to get in.

"Because it's a matter of whether or not you can keep your limbs or if you receive worse scars than the entire Saiya-jin population put together," Toma waited for her response patiently, but when he received nothing he turned his attention back to the bubble in front of him. Right when he did, Celipa grunted in a high-pitched whisper. He knew then that he won. However, he couldn't help but to smirk and make one last comment. "You know, Bardock never complained whenever we put him in the tank."

"Bardock was always unconscious," Celipa snarled. "It doesn't count."

"Well, **you** would've been unconscious as well when I put you in if it hadn't been for the fact that we wanted you this tank as soon as possible. It would've been easier."

Silence followed the last sentence with no signs of any noise to come out of the female. Thus, Toma had time to decide what he was going to do to make sure that the rejuvenation tanks worked. When a couple minutes passed during his train of thought without any interruptions, he was relieved to know that he could contemplate over which was the best solution in a quicker manner. The questions that rotated in his head could not possibly be multiplied. For if they could, he would be standing in the same spot for hours!

If he didn't test, Celipa would be in and out quicker. That was important, no? But getting her healed was also important, so what if the liquid was contaminated? Or there was no liquid when he turned the machine on? She would be stuck in the tank for at least three hours! And what if the oxygen tanks were malfunctioning as well? Or rodents had tampered with the wires inside the computer?

Or what if he was worried for nothing?

If he did test, there was more of a chance for Celipa to get scars. Her skin was too perfect for her to get any at all! The 'losing a limb' part was merely a joke, perhaps to scare her a little. But who said it wasn't possible? Then there was also the possibility of the curative water being very limited, so that the test run would be the only run. Now the cycle of the mental argument started all over again.

After he tested the weights of both sides of the dispute, Toma knew what he had to do. Neither side won, but there was a compromise. It was much more risky than either of the previous choices, but he knew that this was the only way to do it if he were to get this done quickly.

Celipa would be the test and final run.

His eyes read content and worried, for he tried to look as reassuring as possible. She wouldn't give in to anything too easily anymore, so he had to be really cautious about his actions. He decided that the more trusting he appeared to be, the more she'd be convinced. After all, she never announced her agreement to even step inside the dome-shaped tank. Therefore she never promised. If he wasn't careful that would be her next argument.

Toma spun on his heel to face the female Saiya-jin, and lifted a corner of his mouth up involuntarily. Her nose was scrunched, and the tip of her cheek covered a tiny portion of her left eye. Her scowl was directed towards the floor on the other side of the room, so he had a perfect profile view of her face. Awkwardly, he found her irritation at her earlier defeat entertaining, to say the least.

Just when he was about to open his mouth to speak, Celipa suddenly snapped. Her head shot to a ideal parallel stance in a sheer instant, and her eyes enlarged greatly. A couple seconds swept by before she was able to crack out three one-syllable words: "Oh hell no."

Toma furrowed his brows at her rapid mood conversion, and wondered if there was something that he missed a while back. On Meatsei? Involving the group's current separation? Something about the rickety condition of the headquarters? Or did she think of something that concerned only women? "'Oh hell no' what?" Toma questioned curiously.

She twisted her head towards his direction, her face once again transformed. There was a whole mixture among disgusted, annoyed, and disbelief. "**You** were going to put me in there? And **you** wanted me to get healed as quickly as possible? While I was knocked out?!"

The last two words had much more of an impact than the others, and it was those words that clicked something in Toma's mind after he pondered the words. It was then his turn to wear the disgusted mask.

"Celipa, I swear, sometimes you can be worse than all teenage males combined, you know that?" Toma snapped. It only took a couple seconds for him to grasp what she implied. What she implied what he previously intended to do was not correct one bit. In fact, it was just now that he realized that what she implied was actually what he had to do to allow her to get healed immediately.

"Oh, and as if the thought of you stripping me down naked never crossed your mind?!" She hissed through her gritted teeth. "I find that truly hard to believe, Toma!"

He rolled his eyes and let out a puff of air. "I am **not** a perverted freak!" he exclaimed as he threw his arms down in front of him. "If you want the truth I forgot about the whole stripping step before the tank. But you don't have to do it. You don't have to go in naked. In fact, I would very much prefer it if you didn't!"

"You know, that's-"

"Just get in," Toma commanded, in a tone much more calmer than previously. He slapped the side of his face and kept his palm there. He closed his eyes for a few moments in regret. They almost got into another argument. It wouldn't have been a big deal like the one on Meatsei was, as Celipa could not go anywhere on her own. He had much more will to stay and win the quarrel rather than storm off. Nevertheless, he knew that the companionship that they used to have between each other was now completely different.

"Are you **sure** I won't have to go in naked?"

"I'm damned sure," he confirmed, much more quietly than normal. If he sounded repentant, he sure didn't mean it. His true feelings of the moment were much more complex than that. "I'll help you in."

Celipa hesitated for a second before she agreed reluctantly. Toma was once again shocked at her sudden change of emotions, but dared not to ask anymore questions. They had wasted enough time as it is. There was no need to waste anymore.

* * *

"Strange looking building," Inu Taicho mused as he stroked his reptilian lime chin with his thumb. He lounged back in the traditional Butsudo-jin way, with his thick green tail that supported him like a chair, the blunt tip attached to the ground. Such a tail was quite convenient; it prevented any sleepiness to grow from his legs. And it was very much comfortable, especially after another long day of loading the _Senchuu_ up with many goods from this building.

Taicho and the other two Butsudo-jin had been on this desolate planet for three days now, collecting what they could before the five day period was up. Five days was all the Pairetos ever had to 'rob', as some might say, a building or ship. The six of them were always on the run from the Colossal Police. Amazingly enough, the cops always caught up to them easily. Because of that, the five day period was highly enforced by Kone Shõgun, the leader of the Pairetos.

The building Taicho referred to was the one they had been scavenging from for the past three days. He never had the chance to stand back and observe the structure of the once-prosperous Planet Trade, and now that he did he saw that there were too many duck-shaped towers than necessary. Those beaks were just there for the design, after all. The Butsudo planet had only pyramids for towers so that the people could be more at one with their outside neighbors. The Planet Trade should have something like that, but stubby duck towers seemed to be all they could handle.

Ever since Taicho joined the Pairetos, he never returned home once. Shõgun never desired to go back, and the other Butsudo-jin, Rato Manaloto, had too much pride to even admit he was homesick. Taicho, on the other hand, asked again and again to Shõgun if they could go back to Butsudo for a vacation, to visit their family members and friends. Shõgun refused twice as many times as he was asked.

"_It's too dangerous to go back_," he always replied.

Why? Why was it so dangerous? Shõgun never gave an answer besides, "Because."

"Because what?" Taicho **would** ask, but never did. After all, the Butsudo-jin was known as one of the top ten strongest races in the universe. Shõgun ranked as one of the twenty-five percent of the strongest Butsudo-jin. Taicho was close into that range, but he knew that he would never make it in his life. Not that he was all that desperate; he knew that there were more important things to take care of first.

"Hey, Taicho!" A voice called from the ship behind him. "Let's get to work; Shõgun wants us to work until dinner."

"Or does he want us to work **for** dinner?" Taicho asked, standing upright so that his tail was no longer supporting him. He turned sideways just in time to see a forest green Butsudo-jin jump from the side of the ship. "And you do know that's an emergency exit, right? And that Shõgun will kill you if he found out?"

"Quit being such a goodie-goody," Manaloto snapped after he landed almost directly in front of Taicho's face. "And what's the difference between working for dinner or working until dinner. It's the same exact in Shõgun's mind. So come on; let's get to work. We might be able to get off this planet earlier than expected this time."

"Is Shõgun coming?"

"He said in a couple minutes," the darker Butsudo-jin replied, as if this was an every day thing. Well, it was, actually. "Now come on. We don't want him to catch up to us in a mere five minutes!"

"Fine then."

* * *

Silence was never a virtue, at least in Panboukin's impetuous mind. He never understood how and why others needed the lack of noise to think, and he never would. He hated isolation. Consequently enough, he started to miss the angry winds of Meatsei, despite that he never was able to concentrate well with the flying debris. He would rather take a riot over tranquility, especially since the tranquility had an eerie flavor pasted to it.

At least it wasn't total silence in the hall. The clapping of his footsteps ricocheted off the metal walls and produced hollow knocks. It was enough to help him continue his search for new armor and clothing without getting too frustrated, but he still had very little patience to open every single door. The only ones he even bothered to touch were the ones with ghostly plaques on them. The doors with no signs latched onto them he automatically assumed were living quarters for those who resided in one of these hellish buildings. Since most of the doors were just that, Panboukin had an extremely difficult time finding a storage area.

He hadn't been scavenging for very long, at the most half an hour. With his impatience he couldn't believe how unsuccessful he was so far. In fact, he started to regret that he even volunteered to find the scouters and clothing. He knew he would have been much more at ease if he were with any of the other three. When they last separated, the building of those Meatsei-jin punished them for their ignorance. Luckily, there was no disastrous weather that would harm any of them, so the ride here will go nice and smooth.

Panboukin still wanted to be with at least one of the other three. Not that he felt lonesome, it's just that he wanted to talk to someone. Socialize, something he hadn't done in a long while. However, he would be satisfied enough if he could just see Celipa in the rejuvenation tank. Although her persistence earlier indicated that she would be fine without the tank, he wanted to see all those wounds off her. The tank was the only way without leaving any scars.

However, he could understand her refusal very well. He had been inside of those tanks once or twice before and it was too overwhelming. Wires attached to the body while surrounded by sticky liquid inside a small bubble. If one weren't used to it, it would be hated. Especially for those who were even the least bit claustrophobic.

Suddenly he halted his footsteps and a stiff string replaced his mouth. "Bastard," he growled through his teeth. "You're going to overlook something if you don't quit thinking about things like that."

He held still for a couple seconds in an attempt to stare down the floor. His fingers eclipsed his palms while his nails curled to penetrate his skin. Panboukin couldn't stand feeling anything but remorse; after all, it was always his impatience and discomfiture that kept him from either saying the right things or saying anything at all. That was what kept getting everyone in trouble one way or the other.

It was not his past life's mistakes he was furious at. Oh no. **Those** mistakes were always resolved without anyone getting in deeper trouble than they deserved.

The horizontal surface under his neck dropped a centimeter, but his fists were still experiencing an earthquake. He never continued his walk --not just yet. He needed to take his anger out on something, and since this was an abandoned building no one would care too much. Unless the echoes carried out for over fifty meters, but that was impossible. There were so many abrupt or curved corners for any of the other three to hear anything. So he tightly gripped his thumb over his four fingers and whipped his fist into the wall that was right next to him.

Panboukin didn't expect a piece of the wall to topple down in front of him, producing a sound of a child beating pans over pans in the kitchen. To express his surprise, he just stood agape at the crinkled rectangle in front of him and moved nothing but his fluttering eyelids.

After he shook himself out of his trance, his exploring pupils shifted towards where the wall had torn. He let out one sharp and short chuckle once he saw a dimly lit opening. It matched the fallen segment of the wall perfectly --too perfectly. He knew pretty damn well that this was a room, a closet perhaps. He was reassured that he might have just found the items he was looking for. He wasn't surprised to find that he was right, either.

"I see!" Panboukin exclaimed as he approached the opening. "No hinges, no signs of a console to open this thing up. I guess the storage rooms were kept secret to protect it from pranksters. I wonder how people got this opened when the building wasn't so damned rusty."

Indeed, he had found the room that was filled with glass preservation cases stacked like building blocks. Inside each were jewels of blue, red, and green. At least, they were like treasure to him, for now none of the Saiya-jin had to go through a lack of communication. These little gadgets still worked; they had to! That's what the preservation cases were for! Especially since most Planet Trade members never had to go through more than four or five scouters during their entire careers.

"Well, I'd better go back and give these babies to the others," he muttered with enthusiasm as he knelt by a nearby box. "I know how they desperately they want these things."

* * *

Visit the [Hikari no Tabi][1] website!

   [1]: http://violentpeacefulchild.tripod.com



	3. A Saiya-jin's Weakness

A Saiya-jin's Weakness

How long he had been sitting behind the computer console, he didn't know. All Totepo knew was that the way the information was laid out was ridiculous! Not that it wasn't organized; in fact, there was an editorial in front of him explaining the beginnings of the Planet Trade. That was it. No table of contents, no options to choose from. Just this damned article.

Totepo tried, of course, to see if there was a combination of words he had to type in to get a table of contents or a search box. He tried everything logical, and even tried just typing all the symbols on the keyboard one at a time. Nothing happened. He thought it to be very much absurd; how did the technicians get to where they wanted without having to scroll down all the way through? Surely they never kept the computers on up until the point where they abandoned the headquarters!

But he had no choice but to scroll down the article. He could not speed through it, for eventually he might run into something about the Saiya-jin. It could be a long while, considering that he was just now at the starting point of King Cold's reign --and the Saiya-jin didn't even join the Planet Trade until Freeza had control of the system. Even then, Totepo wouldn't want to learn about when the Saiya-jin got involved. He knew.

How could he forget such an eventful and crushing --yet depressing-- period of his life?

* * *

_He knew no one on Vegetasei. Not because of denial, not because he was a newcomer to the planet. Because all of his companions and comrades that he grew up with or met during the Wakusei War were dead. Every single one of them. Most of them did die during the war against the Tsufuru-jin --damned those weaklings' battle strategies, why couldn't they just use the hit-and-run technique? But the ones that Totepo felt closest to were killed by the natives of the planet Kagayaku._

_If he felt like it, he could easily meet other Saiya-jin in the bars and arenas. It should not be hard at all. However, there were so many Saiya-jin that looked alike that Totepo wouldn't bear to even look or speak to any of them because most, in one way or the other, had too much of resemblance to his dead companions._

_He knew it was stupid to continue living life the way he was, but what was the use of doing anything else? Both official and unofficial tournaments were hard enough to get into; therefore he had never felt the need to try to get in. At those tournaments he had to keep his eye on his opponent, so what if his opponent looked closely related to someone he used to know? He spent most of his days at the bars, but always fading himself into a corner so no one would see him and he would see no one he didn't want to see._

_The reason why he didn't want to be seen by anybody was quite simple: the other Saiya-jin would either taunt him for being alone (most of the time, the males) or they will ask him why he wasn't with any other Saiya-jin and if he gave an answer, would at least try to understand (most of the time, the females). Of course, taunts would lead to fights, meaning that he would have to look at another Saiya-jin. And those who asked instead of teased will not be able to understand at all._

_Sure, everyone else probably lost a comrade in the war, but no one had seen their comrades' bodies torn apart. Missing limbs leading to their death. That was what had happened on Kagayaku. The natives struck, cleanly slicing through three of his comrades' arms and legs --there was no 'ors'-- and literally tearing off the heads of two others. By the request of the last two to die he fled the planet with only the horror image of decapitated bodies._

_He was pretty sure that was the first time any Saiya-jin died in such an atrocious manner._

_Totepo suspected that his desire to not associate with others had help --the others did not want to associate with him either. He was heading into his middle-aged years in a matter of a couple standard years and most surviving Saiya-jin of the Wakusei War were ten years younger than him. He always looked older than he really was, unlike many other Saiya-jin. It would always be an asset of his._

_Although no one in the bar would ever speak to him, they never cared how close they came to him. Therefore, he had a good ear of everything that was going on around him and every single conversation that occurred. It wasn't exactly eavesdropping, though most of the time Totepo found each discussion to be quite intriguing. Since he never got out too much it helped him keep up with the rumors and news that roamed the planet. However, the ones that usually perked his attention were the ones by a certain couple of companions, whose names never reached his ears._

_Today, that was the one discussion that he was finally glad to listen to, and not for leisure. It was about a very important issue that he would have never have heard about until it was too late:_

_"By the way, did you hear what the king just did?"_

_"Why the hell would **I** care what the king does? He can do whatever he damned well pleases while us low-level soldiers are stuck taking orders from him!"_

_"What he did this time concerns **all **of the Saiya-jin this time, including the elites! I'm pretty sure he sentenced all of us to slavery."_

_"Now, why would he do such a stupid thing like that?! You must be hearing things again; even the king isn't that stupid to-"_

_"Shut up for one second and let me explain! The Planet Trade. He entered all of us into the Planet Trade, and now about five hundred selected Saiya-jin are to put together a crew to get the planets cleared off."_

_"How is that slavery? Isn't that supposed to be fun? And the Planet Trade! We're going to get paid for clearing out planets instead of just doing it as an occasional hobby!"_

_"But we will be assigned the planets we go to-"_

_"What's the problem with that?"_

_"We have a limited time to kill the inhabitants. We can't just go at our own pace anymore. Not to mention that the leader of the Planet Trade is making the king create new laws for the Saiya-jins. Which means that we are under the control of the Planet Trade now, not the king. And the king knows what's best for the Saiya-jin. Not some alien bastard!"_

_"Now you're getting excited about politics. Calm down; what we have to worry about is finding out who those selected Saiya-jin are and try to get ourselves into one of those crews."_

_"I still don't like the idea of this..."_

_"It's ** not** slavery."_

_"Well, I think it is. But knowing you, I won't bore you with the details I have in mind. I have my reasons. So live with it. Anyway..."_

* * *

Slavery.

Now that he thought about it, what exactly did the Saiya-jin get in return for their loyalty and service? Betrayal, that was it? There had to be more involved, yet why hadn't the king told them anything at all?

That was excluding the obvious reason that Totepo and all others who frequent the bar were low-level soldiers. Royalty and elites would not acknowledge them as Saiya-jin unless the situation called for it. Nevertheless, they should have known something about the payment they were to receive, even if it was merely a rumor.

Rumors were the main source of most of the news that the third class warriors received. Usually the king would report it to a trusted attendant in the palace, some royal guards will overhear and tell some of their comrades. It eventually reached the elites who would talk about it --quietly or casually, depending on how severe or important it was. A wandering low-level soldier would overhear sometime and tell his companions until eventually everyone knew. However, this was something that never reached the ears of any low-level warrior; was the deal with the Planet Trade so much of a secret that the king couldn't even tell his queen? And the rest of the population of Vegetasei wasn't allowed to hear it either?

Totepo really didn't realize it until now. Perhaps no one except that skeptical Saiya-jin from the bar **ever** thought about it. Almost all Saiya-jin were like the skeptical Saiya-jin's comrade. Satisfied that they know had a purpose with their entire killing spree and somehow being paid for it. Of course, no one cared how he was rewarded exactly. Even Totepo never gave it a second thought, until now.

That was a long time in the past. The agreement with the Saiya-jin and the Planet Trade was no longer important. Just by looking at his surroundings was enough to tell Totepo that the Planet Trade was no more. He was not sure what happened to the Cold family or the whereabouts of the Saiya-jin. Perhaps Bardock was successful in starting a revolution --and the Saiya-jin won? But that wouldn't explain why Vegetasei was no longer in existence. The Saiya-jin lost?

What **happened**?

That was what exactly he was trying to find out. So far, there was no success at all. After the past fifteen minutes he spent pondering some events of the past, he just made it to what Cooler had control over and what Freeza had control over. He was getting closer, but his patience was halfway to the point where it would be as short as Panboukin's.

"Aha! Found ya!"

Totepo just had to grin at the irony and the perfect excuse for a break from this torturous screening. It was awkward how one could be comparing their traits to another's, and then have that other arrive a few seconds after. Rather, it was more amusing than it was bizarre, for it happened only once a blue moon. This might be the only excusable break he can get, so he had to take advantage of it.

He withdrew a tiny breath, his pleased expression evacuating the gray surface of his skin. He shifted his left foot around so that the front of his body was no longer in the view of the computer console. Sure enough, the plump figure of his smug companion was standing in the doorway.

Totepo was further content to see that Panboukin did not at all give up on his mission. He succeeded. Not that he had any doubts on his companion, of course, but being isolated in a wraithlike structure such as this, wandering around with no idea where anything was **could** make one give up in an instant. With Saiya-jin, it was best to not have any questions about their determination, especially when solid evidence was glittering right before his eyes. In this case, it was the lime scouter over Panboukin's left eye and the ruby-tinted version in his fist that was enough to convince anybody with doubts about Saiya-jin.

"Here," Panboukin offered the crimson compact computer by tossing it towards the elder man. "Thought we could all use these."

Totepo accepted the treasure by catching it in mid-air, his extensive arms and body allowing him to do so easily without lifting a foot off the ground. With one glance he was able to examine the scouter for any signs of dust or rust, and surprised to see that there was none. Shrugging his curiosity as to why off his shoulders, the aging Saiya-jin clasped the tiny computer to the side of his head. He tilted his chin a centimeter closer to his neck in a tiny "thank you" gesture.

The Saiya-jin on the other side of the room flashed a momentary smirk of triumph, before shifting his face into a perturbed look. "So how's the," a tentative and disgusted silence commenced at that split second, before the scowling voice reentered the scene, putting a heavy emphasis on the following word, "research going?"

Neither of the Saiya-jin had a single liking for the genius's word, nor Totepo had no intention to emphasize it --consciously or unconsciously. Unfortunately he had no better answer than: "Saiya-jin are warriors, not computer scientists."

Panboukin showed no signs of irritation at all. Instead, a wry, wicked grin bloomed upon his face. "Of course," he agreed in the tone of voice that Totepo and the others knew him by. "So you haven't had much luck, have you?" Totepo shook his head, almost in remorse. Panboukin waved that aside. "I don't blame you. After all --I really hate to admit this, but as fighters Saiya-jin have limited skills."

"And limited power."

That fact brought the uncomfortable silence back into the two Saiya-jins' lives, and the younger man did not object to it at all. After the events on Meatsei, from the very beginning of their fight with the assassins to Celipa's unfortunate accident with the lone, almost unharmed building, all four of the resurrected aliens knew that the Saiya-jin race was not as powerful as they thought they were. Instead, their egos had greater strength than their bodies and inner power put together. It was a nonverbal agreement with at least the three men.

Unexpectedly, Panboukin started to chuckle. "Well, it depends on what kind of power you're talking about. Did you ever think it was possible for Toma to get Celipa into the tank? Especially after the argument they had back on Meatsei?"

"She got in voluntarily?" Totepo almost found that hard to believe. Back to the relieving, carefree times on Vegetasei it would have been believable. Now that Celipa stood up for herself and, most likely, refused to do something she had no desire to do, this piece of news was pretty fantastic.

"Reluctantly, according to Toma," the other Saiya-jin shrugged. "That was something I was forced to believe, that it was not some sort of rendering of the truth. You saw how she was after getting out of her pod. I was surprised to see her in the tank, that I'll tell you." After that comment he flinched and propped a thick hand to the center of his chest. "Well, I might as well go find the armor and underclothing. Shouldn't be too far away from the scouters, eh?"

Totepo nodded his agreement. After Panboukin gave a small salute and left the room, the gray-skinned Saiya-jin was back to where he was. Researching. How **annoying** that word was. How annoying the job was! But if Panboukin was able to find the scouters without returning to someone without complaining, then he should be able to do this. Seeking items and information was not on the Saiya-jins' skill list, but anything is possible.

Being resurrected will have that encouragement on someone, especially if he grew up to believe that you could only die once.

Unfortunately, the question of how and why they were revived was still a mystery. A mystery that probably would not be solved until he was killed again.

* * *

"Butsudo-jin," the Resurrector muttered, surveying the situation on Planet Trade Headquarters Seventy-Eight. "The three traitors of the Butsudo home world. Pairetos."

He only hoped that neither groups collided into one another. He knew of the Butsudo-jin from his time in Heaven, whereas if he had been in Hell he wouldn't have a single piece of knowledge of this green, thick-tailed aliens from a civilization that was a combination of those on Vegetasei and those on Earth. That was what had the Resurrector so worried.

Although the Butsudo-jin used weapons when they warred with another group or race, their physical strength surpassed the entire Saiya-jin race put together. Even if the Resurrector sacrificed some of his own power to help out the four of his "resurrectees", each of them would die instantly. That would only be the case if it were any regular Butsudo-jin in their midst.

Luckily the Pairetos were somewhat reasonable with what they labeled "loot stealers". Instead of killing their victim a bargain was always made. It almost never resulted in the "loot stealers" getting any of the treasure he wants, but rather a chance to live another year or more. However, there was that one time when the three Butsudo-jin were in a hurry, and upon noticing how skilled three Roisei-jin were, the Pairetos were increased to six members.

The Resurrector had no clue what the details were, for the Angels and the Dreammaker never told him the details. The Dreammaker and him were close, as some might say, but not in the friendship way. It was the Dreammaker who had serious doubts about the revival of the four Saiya-jin, but she went along with it. Her rebellion came a few seconds too late after he managed to bring back the plump male and the young female, with the Dreammaker trying to emphasize how wrong it was.

She would understand someday. Although she was a hot-tempered young lady from an alternate dimension of Earth, she came to her senses pretty quickly.

After all, the resurrection of the four Saiya-jin had no effect on the universe. There was a still a score that must be settled in order for all Saiya-jin to be satisfied. Especially the Resurrector himself.

* * *

Visit the [Hikari no Tabi][1] website!

   [1]: http://violentpeacefulchild.tripod.com



	4. Alien Collision

Alien Collision

A duet of wide and low bells sang throughout the desolate corridors. The song carried a light, fun-filled tune as Inu Taicho and Rato Manaloto joked about their past experiences in life and career. It was all to make their work less burdening and the quakes in their bellies less noticeable, allowing the time to go as quick as a lightning bolt. During these moments, no one would ever suspect that these two were part of the most wanted criminal gang is this sector of the North Galaxy.

The two lime-painted Pairetos found very little significant treasure to bring back to the _Senchuu_ as proof that they deserved dinner. All they found was old clothes and out-dated armor; though they could be sold for a fortune to museums and noblemen, Shõgun would not approve of hauling ancient tools and accessories on the ship. Alas, smuggling was not an advantageous skill the Pairetos carried; to even try to carry the items downstairs would be suicide.

Taicho and Manaloto could easily go back to the _Senchuu_ and announce that there aren't anymore goods left hiding in the walls from invaders such as themselves. It would be an easy call; they could get the meal they have been longing for and get off the planet a day early, so it would be much harder for the Colossal Police to track them down. However, Shõgun was a rigorous and persistent fellow. He would ask questions primarily about the last few levels. He knew when the other Pairetos were lying. It was the effects of being stuck with one another for a decade straight. So Taicho and Manaloto both and together would fail to convince Shõgun that they had done all levels of the building.

Even persuading Kone Shõgun would be a difficult task. He was dedicated to getting the job done the right way without skipping over any stepping-stones to arrive at the end of the mission. He believed in keeping a promise to everything. Many times the Roisei-jin, Taicho, and Manaloto found it downright annoying. From time to time the slightest bit of a rebellion broke out to force Shõgun to be flexible. It never worked then, though; there was no chance that it would work now.

In that case, Taicho and Manaloto were stuck doing the job. Luckily they knew how to get it done faster without rushing through Shõgun's process.

On the fourth level of the Planet Trade's old command center, the two Butsudo-jin were having a lively conversation while they both checked each rusty locker in the hall. They almost completed this level, since there were only the unexamined cabinets left to do as well as inspecting the closets on this level. The cheery mood the couple was generating combined with their knowledge of being over halfway through the entire building helped them along even further.

Including the tower levels, there were about ten to twelve floors. According to Shõgun's rules of scavenging, it was best to always work from the top down. That way, if there was ever a chance that the Pairetos would have to make a fast escape it would be done in a more efficient way. Shõgun knew that, Taicho and Manaloto knew that, the Roisei-jin knew that. Even the Colossal Police knew of this important concept. Sadly, they had never taken that into account whenever they had the chance to arrest the Paireto team.

A large crash of metal impacting into metal bounced off the walls of the corridors. Manaloto's frustration finally seeped through, for he was the one who slammed one of the lockers shut. Unfortunately for the lone metal box, the force of the hit was too strong and the rusty hinges allowed the door to swing open before it collapsed to the floor. A similar vibration rang throughout the empty halls, overpowering the dark-skinned Butsudo-jin's curse.

"There are too many useless uniforms in these things!" Manaloto wailed, facing Taicho with a mask of exasperation. "I can't believe how strict the Planet Trade was with their dress code!"

Taicho quickly glanced at his companion before turning his attention back to shuffling through the locker he was going through. "They might just have a lot of suits per person," he pointed out. "After all, who likes to wear the same dirty clothes day after day without washing it."

"Ragua," Manaloto counterattacked. He wasn't exactly putting down the Roisei-jin, for it was completely true. However, it was an insult for both Butsudo-jin and Roisei-jin --the Roisei-jin race never wore clothing. It was against their tradition and their pride. Nevertheless, Ragua Nica was apparently against the system and wore whatever he pleased. What he chose to wear was the same clothes he fought, stole, and slept in. His fellow Pairetos did not enjoy the obnoxious stench.

"He doesn't count," Taicho shot back. He gently closed another locker door shut and marched towards Manaloto. "He's just a queer."

"How do we know that the Planet Trade weren't ones either?" Manaloto questioned in accusation. "They were the people who killed people on their own planet and rid of the bodies like daily trash! All because their clients want to rule a planet for themselves! An empty planet, at that. I mean, who wants an empty planet to rule? Surely not me."

"They also cleared out planets for a new base," Taicho stepped into Manaloto's raving with a fact he learned during his younger years. "They could never learn how to live with the natives, treaty or no treaty. You know, I still think it's a miracle that-"

"Miracles don't exist, Taicho," Manaloto cut in. His face was arranged to represent fire, for he did not like what the other Butsudo-jin was about to say. "I wish Shõgun would make that a rule, because nothing happens in an instant."

There was a hidden meaning in those words and Taicho knew what it was as easily as he knew how to count. Manaloto despised the Planet Trade as if he had a grudge against them. Perhaps he did, but not even Shõgun bothered to ask him for a confirmation. Whenever it came to this trade federation, Manaloto showed more anger than he did of anything else. It would be expected that he would hate the Colossal Police, but like how the other Pairetos felt, the cops were just another obstacle that they enjoyed to drive to insanity.

Taicho mumbled an apology to him. He pulled open the last locker of the row and on the level in silence. Manaloto waited grimly behind him, and it was only a few instants later did Taicho regretted bringing the conversation to the Planet Trade. He knew he should be more careful with his words, for someday that may call his demise in the dishonorable way. In fact, there were many times in which he wished he could take back what he said previously for he always came up with something better in his mind sometime later. How he wished he could be just as witty as Manaloto!

Immediately after the slam of the locker echoed in the Butsudo-jins' ears, Manaloto finally spoke up. "We're finished with this level now, aren't we? Can we just go and tell Shõgun we were not successful at all?"

"No, because we aren't finished with this level yet," Taicho reminded him. He spun on his heel to face his darker companion. "We still have to get through these closets and rooms before we can go back down. And Shõgun was supposed to catch up, remember?"

Manaloto shook his head, his enraged face easing up little by little. "Two arguments there, Taicho. One: Yes we are finished. We'll just be going around in circles again." And to make his point, he waved a hand towards an open doorway just decameters ahead of them. Taicho knew **that** debate was lost immediately. "Two: Shõgun was supposed to have caught up with us a long time ago. I don't think he'll be coming. So let's just **go**." 

"So this entire hall was just filled with lockers and storage rooms all along, weren't they?" Taicho smiled wryly. In unison the duo started to tramp towards the staircase with nothing in their hands. That would surely disappoint Shõgun. Even so, they knew that they would have some time after dinner and before they left the next day to scavenge through the last stacks and piles of potential treasure. "I suppose we could just go back to the _Senchuu_. We really have nothing to lose, right?"

"Now you're seeing my point," Manaloto grinned triumphantly. Both Butsudo-jin chuckled in no particular amusement at anything. They just did for the Hell of it.

They kept that up until they heard a crash vibrate past their bodies with a rather vulgar word following it. Both knew immediately that was not Shõgun, for he never had such an offensive vocabulary. A pair of sea green hands flew to a black belt at the Butsudo-jins' waists and came back down to their prior stance with a sleek, charcoal pistol placed in the center of their palms. They were not going to take any chances with this loot stealer.

* * *

It was a good thing that Panboukin delivered the scouters before he went to find clothing and armor. Miraculously, he found the scouters before he found uniforms as well, thus creating an excellent form of communication among the three Saiya-jin. Celipa could not get to her scouter yet, for she was still locked up in the rejuvenation tank. So whenever Toma started to enjoy the conversation with Panboukin by just laughing, her scowl was enough to scare off plenty of men no matter what race they were.

Toma had thought of it as amusing for a little while. After he started to enjoy talking to Panboukin a little too much, however, he couldn't help but to try to force himself into silence shortly after glancing at his female companion. Since it was unnatural for someone to have his eyes open during the healing process, Celipa could not see how much fun he really was having, but hearing was a different story altogether. He knew that she could hear every word that he was speaking and every guffaw he broke out into. Therefore, she knew he was enjoying himself.

Celipa did not like it.

He knew he shouldn't be intimidated by her reactions to his conversation. She had no power to do anything to satisfy herself at the moment. He also doubted she would have any strength to injure him later, although she will be able to bruise both his body and pride, especially if she did so in front of the other two Saiya-jin. Women knew how to get revenge.

Most men showed very little respect for women and vice versa. But in cases such as this the women had the upper hand; as every male knows, female fury was not to be challenged.

"I still can't believe how much of an asshole Kacha always was," the voice on the other end commented while keeping his reputation of swinging conversations around to his liking. "I hope he's dead. And not by old age, either."

Toma chuckled as lightly as he could, but with Celipa's deepened scowls he knew that she could hear him still. He just had to make a comment, though, to keep the conversation lasting. "He probably got killed twice by the other Saiya-jin before getting killed by the excess of scars on his body. You know, because he was so persistent to ** not** get into those tanks."

The last sentence Toma purposely spoke loud enough so that Celipa could hear him clearly. He did not intend to annoy her further, but to make a point to her about her earlier persistence that was so similar to Kacha's, especially since Celipa hated him more than anybody else did. There were too many things that he did to her and attempted to do to her. She was even close to moving herself out of the team because of him; she knew that he was making attacks on her merely because she was on the team that he once used to belong to. At least until Bardock kicked him out because of his trouble-making deeds.

"Bardock still should've killed him instead of letting him live," Panboukin said time and time again, and he even said it as his response. "It would've made everybody's lives much better!"

Toma laughed in agreement. That was yet another bad move. Including the last thing the sub-leader said, the laughter provoked Celipa a little over the line. She pulled her eyebrows together and squinted her closed eyes, her lips pursed together to a thin line. Toma could only imagine two tight fists taking form during this time.

He inhaled a huff of air, and continued to speak with his comrade on the other end. "If you want the truth, I still can't-"

"Quiet for a second," Panboukin cut in, and then a small click reached Toma's ears. For a couple seconds all he heard was static, a sign that Panboukin had turned his scouter off. Why Panboukin had felt the need to do that was unexplainable, but Toma didn't feel like asking. Or rather, he **couldn't** ask, even if he wanted to.

Even Totepo's scouter was offline during this time merely because he wanted to do his work without getting sidetracked. Toma couldn't blame him; after all, working with computers was something new for the Saiya-jin. It would get frustrating after a little while, and Toma knew all a little too well.

It was probably for the best, anyway.

Another click came through the scouter and a ringing noise was left in the background. "What-" Toma began again, but Panboukin still cut him off.

"There might be other people in here," he informed in a qualified whisper. "But keep quiet so I can find out."

Toma grew a skeptical expression on his face. He knew that his companion was dramatizing over some rodents. This was an abandoned building; there was bound to be a lot of those creatures scrambling about. That opinion quickly changed once he heard restaurant chatter just underneath Panboukin's breathing. 

Toma wanted to yell at him to remind him that there was nothing a Saiya-jin could not handle. However, there were several reasons for him not doing so. Both could have been hallucinating, though it was unlikely. After all, the assassins back on Meatsei easily killed the four Saiya-jin. The strength of aliens might have changed during the time that they were dead. Those voices might have been veterans of the Planet Trade. He only hoped it wasn't anybody from the Cold family.

While Toma waited for a response of any kind from Panboukin, he seized the moment to check on Celipa's status. He understood the computers a little, but the havoc both had been through as he tried to figure out how to work the rejuvenation tanks helped Celipa's agitation greatly. At least he was able to tell the estimated amount of time left for her to be in that bubble.

He tentatively typed a couple keys in like an untaught student before he stood back to watch for any golden symbols that were to appear on the screen. After a night of ten seconds, a pair of numbers followed by a dozen letters showed up. He read the report and became vaguely in the mix of confusion. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that she only had a few minutes left in the tank? Especially after he involuntarily allowed her to know that he was having a good time conversing with a companion!

In hopes to bring her spirits up even the slightest bit, he announced the amount of time she had left. It was then that he knew that it was a bad thing she was getting out soon; a rather menacing smirk flashed upon her face. Toma had nearly forgotten how vengeful she could get and knew that he was to pay the price in a short while. He could only be thankful that the conversations had ended between Panboukin and him, so the bruises would probably not be as bad if they did continue on.

Unfortunately, such serenity could not last. The noise that caught Toma's attention was a cry of, "Aw, shit!" He immediately recognized that voice as Panboukin's and was about to ask if anything happened. Then again, the conversation over the scouter was enough to tell him what was happening. 

"Ha! So the loot stealer is a mere rodent!" a voice of an arrogant relief spoke. Toma could easily hear Panboukin repeat the last word in antipathy, though this alien could not. Maybe.

A second voice piped up, sounding a little more than annoyed. "So we shouldn't waste anytime on him. Let's just leave it alone and get back to the ship."

"And just who the hell are you two?" Panboukin's voice demanded towards the two speaking aliens. "It doesn't look like you're from the Planet Trade, what with that," a momentarily pause --Toma could picture him staring at whatever attire the aliens had on in disgust, "clothing."

The arrogance of the first voice still remained when he spoke. Toma decided to dub him 'Prig' for now, until a validation of his name was available. "Why the hell would I **ever** be interested into the Planet Trade? But by judging from your type of clothing I have no choice but to assume you were in the Planet Trade and still decide to wear its insignia." A large click echoed in the halls and produced a hollow snap in Toma's scouter. "I despise you."

This led Toma to wondering if the Planet Trade had left some inhabitants of planets still remaining and came close to condemning them for that; however, he quickly remembered that he, too, had made that mistake once. Could there have been more than one Kanassasei survivor? But what was that click all about? Was it a gun? Did he really think a mere gun could take down any member of the Planet Trade? Prig must be tremendously illiterate with the way Freeza hired races. Most Planet Trade members never used guns and actually used a little something called 'Ki'.

Everyone that was in the Planet Trade knew this. Most of the time the guns caused no damage to them. So Panboukin just laughed and asked, "This is some sort of joke, isn't it? You really think that-"

He was cut off immediately, and judging by the sound of a bird attack Toma could only assume that the Prig pulled the trigger. He could not think anything else, for Panboukin yelped. If Toma didn't know any better, he would say that his companion was just putting on a show. Either way, he was still surprised by his muffled mumbling that indicated that the shot hurt. Badly.

Toma now knew better than to overestimate his comrades in any situation and became determined to aide Panboukin in this battle. Or at least make sure that he wouldn't do anything stupid. There was at least one other accompanying the Prig, so why not make the fight fair as far as the number of people went? Sure, on Meatsei it was a four-on-four slaughter fest, but that was in the past. That was different.

Like Toma told himself earlier, the strength of many different alien races might have changed during the time that they were dead.

"Panboukin, I'm going to meet you up there," he informed as he turned away from Celipa. He managed to leap four steps before a cross voice responded to his insinuation of helplessness.

"Damn it, this thing is still on, isn't it?" Panboukin muttered into the scouter, with the click of the gun and the Prig's haughty taunts in the background. "It doesn't hurt that much; I can manage these pair of slime-ridden creatures in no time!"

"So, why haven't you gotten rid of them yet?" Toma asked smugly, despite the critical situation Panboukin --no, **they** were in. He was already out the door of the medical center and headed for the stairway. "Hey, it's best not to take chances anymore, now is it?"

With a roar of fury, Toma knew that Panboukin had launched himself at his attackers. He could not blame him. Although the quartet had changed in some way, there were just some things that never changed.

Including being there for each other.

* * *

Visit the [Hikari no Tabi][1] website!

   [1]: http://violentpeacefulchild.tripod.com/



	5. Fiery Sparks

Fiery Sparks

Totepo surprised even himself when he realized that his patience was thinning to a size less than a width of the lens of a scouter. It came to a bigger surprise to him that his determination to find information was wearing out also. He knew that if he couldn't believe it, neither would anybody else, even if he had told him himself. After all, he was viewed as the most patient man in the entire universe and also the most determined to reach his goals, therefore his endurance should have been able to hold out until he found something on the computers about Vegetasei, Meatsei, the Saiya-jin, and more!

Alas, computer work was not a Saiya-jin's favorite work. It would be understandable for anybody of the Saiya-jin species to want to give up. Rather, they ** would** give up, but it would have been a much longer time ago. So maybe a Saiya-jin from the past, if he were watching Totepo and could feel his mental pain, would exclaim, "It's about time!"

That would only be true if Totepo gave up. He didn't, though. Not quite yet.

What kept him from doing so was the fact that he finally made some progress. After Panboukin dropped into the circular control room with the emerald scouter and left just as quickly, Totepo accidentally pushed a wrong button, thinking it was the button to scroll down again. The mistake came much to his advantage; the night sky of the computer screen turned into daylight, with a dash twinkling fast, as if to coax the Saiya-jin into pressing a button.

Totepo fell for the trap and soon found himself staring at a symbol he knew quite well. It was a galactic consonant, used on Vegetasei ever since the Saiya-jin affiliated with the Planet Trade. Much to his delight, the consonant was the beginning letter of the word Meatsei. Ever since then, Totepo had been trying his very best to locate the rest of the six letters. Unfortunately, the second and the fifth letter were the only ones that were the same.

That was why he felt like he needed to at least have a break.

After all, what was the rush? The four of them weren't planning to go anywhere so soon, for they lacked information to know what to do. Plus, Celipa was still in the rejuvenation tank, Toma with her, and as far as Totepo was concerned, Panboukin was searching for new armor and clothing for them. Totepo's task was the least important job of them all, excluding Toma since he had nothing to do except to keep an eye on Celipa. It was so that when she did get out of the healing tank she would not do anything stupid. At least, that was what Totepo thought Toma was doing. He could be just there giving her company, since she could not communicate with the others.

It wasn't that Totepo felt pity on Celipa so much that he chose to not listen into Toma and Panboukin's conversation, and it wasn't the need for concentration either. If anything, it was more out of respect. He knew that once Panboukin had left the control room, he had brewed a conversation with Toma; Panboukin was loquacious that way.

It was not Saiya-jin etiquette to intrude into an on-going conversation unless there was something good to report --or bad, depending. Knowing Panboukin and Toma, however, and being their companion, Totepo knew that they wouldn't mind too much if he did start listening in on their conversation. In fact, he could just put on his scouter and turn it on, and they wouldn't even know he was there!

He felt uncomfortable about giving in to leisure before he completed his task; it would be a sign of psychological surrender, the worst kind of surrender imaginable for a bleak setting such as this.

Currently, the symbols on the screen displayed all but the last three letters, which was to indicate the title of planet: sei.

This might take just a little bit longer.

* * *

These olive reptilians --ugly reptilians, at that-- would not survive their time at the headquarters. That was a promise that Panboukin would be sure to keep, even if he lost a limb in the process. Alien visitors were a problem that the Saiya-jin did not need right now, and Panboukin was going to take it upon himself to get rid of them. Well, perhaps he would get a little help from Toma. Nothing was going to stop the sub-leader from coming. However, Panboukin wanted to at least engage himself in an interesting battle. It's been a long time since he fought intelligent creatures.

Perhaps "intelligent" was going a little far for this Saiya-jin to call his victims, but only for his victims from the past. The lizard-looking creatures actually were intelligent, and regretfully Panboukin knew it. The one that had shot that gun at Panboukin, the darker alien, moved with ease whenever the Saiya-jin made his attacks, and continued to fire his arm-length firearm with great aim. The darker alien's companion, however, didn't seem to want to fight, for he continued to tell the darker alien that the fighting wasn't worth it; they might as well just leave Panboukin alone. That only made Panboukin feel like the Saiya-jin race had been insulted; **no** one insults the Saiya-jin and gets away with it.

After all, no alien race --not even the Cold family themselves-- was good enough to fight Saiya-jin.

With this in mind, Panboukin continued his attempts to batter the forest green alien. He knew it was futile, but he also knew that if he stayed close enough to the alien, the alien wouldn't fire. Those rifles hurt enough for a Saiya-jin to avoid them.

The alien soon saw that his opponent was not going to go down without a good fight

Panboukin realized that his armor was helping him out so that the shots from the gun would not penetrate his skin. The alien --what did the other companion call him, again?-- wore nothing to protect himself except for a dark leather suit, which probably wouldn't help at all. Judging by the fight, Panboukin also knew that the alien --it was time to give him a nickname-- could not use Ki. Therefore the Saiya-jin had the higher advantage.

Panboukin floated about ten meters away from the alien and halted for a moment. The alien held out his blaster to fire again, but Panboukin was a stepping-stone ahead of him. The Saiya-jin shoved a muscle-structured hand towards the alien and began to trigger his inner spirits for a little light-spinning adventure...

But the alien had quicker reflexes. Before the ball of light could fully form, the alien pulled the trigger, and a split second later Panboukin's left hand flew to the opposite side of his shoulder blade. This time, he felt blood escape and slide down his fingers. That only enraged him even more.

"Bastard," Panboukin hissed and continued to spat many vulgar insults in one intake of air. It was all he could do to keep him from crying out and make the alien boastful by his weakness. Though it could come to the Saiya-jin's advantage he did not take it, for the last thing he wanted from anybody was the perception that the Saiya-jin race was weak. At least, not from **this** alien, anyway.

"Had enough?" the alien taunted menacingly, his black, hostile weapon still pointed at Panboukin. He was ready to kill, the overweight Saiya-jin assumed. His smug scowl proved it. The slanted forehead of the alien crumpled with his eyebrows, yet his mouth continued to suspend in mid-air in a sinister smile. His eyes twinkled with delight. It was then when his companion spoke again:

"Quit it. You know Shõgun doesn't like us torturing or killing rodents. We might as well leave him be."

"You be quiet," the alien hissed at his companion. "This is a personal matter."

Panboukin watched them with narrow eyes and saw the exchange of words between the two aliens. He saw his opportunity to attack; the alien he was fighting with was not paying any attention to him anymore. Yet there was something pulling him back: Toma's warning to not do anything stupid.

Suddenly, the alien glared back at Panboukin, and the overweight "rodent" knew that it was time to fight again. To keep up to the Saiya-jin standards, he was well prepared for it. He was not going to die in the process of ridding the headquarters with these ugly reptiles. It would be cheating him out of his second chance of living.

And one of the many things Panboukin hated most was a rip-off. Especially if he was it.

* * *

It certainly was about time that Totepo completed the planet's name!

Luckily for the acceleration of the gruesome process, he learned when he first started where the "Enter" button was. Unfortunately, the computer was slow while it searched for the information pertaining to Meatsei. It gave him time to think; however, the bad thing was that there was not a single thing he needed time to ponder, decide, or criticize about yet. The only thing that Totepo could do was to worry that the information about Meatsei was unimportant, and that the Planet Trade never had time to inhabit the planet.

Half a minute later, a paragraph appeared on the electric blue screen. It wasn't very lengthy, but there was more than just "a planet taken over, but never accepted by the buyer" or something else relative. Rather, the screen read:

_"One of the ten assassination missions during the year 737. The victims were several low-level Saiya-jin warriors. However, four of the five assassins sent to the planet were killed by a lone Saiya-jin, as reported by Dodoria sometime later. That single Saiya-jin is thought to be the one who stood in the line of fire during the Vegetasei's demolition."_

Totepo came close to pulling himself further away from the console. Each sentence affected each and every part of his body, all of the sentences worse than their former. All of those words were just horrendous! However, his need to clear his mind in order to think clearly about each of those words kept pounding in his head. He must, so that when he informed the other three he wouldn't have to have a struggle to clear things up for them.

First of all, an assassination missions? The Meatsei mission was meant to be an assassination mission? Totepo heard of those types of operations before; assassination missions were only for unsatisfactory crews who didn't deserve to be killed on their home planet. As far as Totepo was concerned, his team did better than most of the other low-level Saiya-jin crews, unless Freeza considered a mission completed ahead of schedule unsatisfactory. Sure, according to Toma, the beginnings of the crew of Bardock rode on a rough terrain, but that couldn't have been the reason!

The "ten assassination missions" in one year didn't bother Totepo too much; he remembered a year in which there were over twenty of those missions to a half a race of rebels. He did not want to think things any more complicated than they might turn out to be, so he did not venture into the possibility that perhaps more than half of those assassination missions were meant for the Saiya-jin alone.

Totepo was only half-surprised to see that the secretary made an effort to put who the victims were in this mission log; normally, the listings of assassination missions were only put down to mention the date of that task, unless there was a special reason. Typically, that special reason was that someone turned against the Planet Trade.

That was not what happened with **this** group of Saiya-jin!

Reflecting back to the events on Meatsei after the group's resurrection, Totepo soon realized that the lone fighter was none other than Bardock. The company of their commander, whom they had left behind to get the job over with, could have helped change the outcome of the crew. Totepo wondered what would have happened if they had waited for Bardock instead of leaving him behind. Would Toma, Panboukin, Celipa and him have survived?

After reading the last sentence, "That single Saiya-jin is thought to be the one who stood in the line of fire during the Vegetasei's demolition," Totepo soon pondered that if the subordinates had survived, perhaps they could have helped Bardock prevent Vegetasei's demolition.

Totepo brought his train of thought to a steaming halt.

Vegetasei's demolition? So, the Saiya-jins' home was truly gone? The Saiya-jin race as well? There had to be survivors. Freeza would have at least let some Saiya-jin live, wouldn't he?

Totepo stopped his thought process again, and asked himself why he was accusing Freeza for destroying his planet. There was no valid proof; the data entry did not mention it at all. That was excluding the fact that they could have been implying; "line of fire" usually meant that someone was deliberately attacking something or someone in one way or another. Surely it wasn't Freeza; it couldn't have been Freeza!

_"Before Bardock arrived to this planet, Dodoria told me that Freeza thought the Saiya-jin as an eyesore. That he 'didn't like us'. I don't know, but I have a feeling that Freeza did something terrible to our people."_

That was what Toma told Panboukin, Celipa, and Totepo before they departed off Meatsei. With Toma's information and the computer's data entries, Totepo knew then that it really was Freeza.

He still had an extremely hard time accepting all the facts dealing with Freeza's betrayal. Although he had told himself many times before that Vegetasei was gone, he had a hard time accepting it now. It must be because he had a confirmation that it was true; perhaps in his heart he was hoping desperately that he was wrong. It was the same with the concept of a trusted one falling into treachery with his loyal workers: he never thought it would happen and never wanted it to happen.

Although many questions have been answered by this single entry, there were many more yet to be answered before Totepo could submit to engaging into a conversation with Toma and Panboukin. Were there any survivors? If so, where were their whereabouts? What happened to the Planet Trade?

What year was this?

Totepo was only satisfied that he knew what he was doing now. At least he wouldn't have such a hard time while he continued on his hunt for answers. He only hoped that each new piece of information wouldn't lead to more questions. He was, after all, a Saiya-jin. Any more research than he had to do was going to be a little too overwhelming for him.

* * *

Visit the [Hikari no Tabi ][1]website!

   [1]: http://violentpeacefulchild.tripod.com/



	6. Trust and Truce

Trust and Truce

Celipa didn't have the slightest idea whether she should be elated or irritated that Toma had abandoned her. She understood that either Totepo or Panboukin needed help with something, but couldn't that wait? She hated to be alone, for she knew all too well the consequences that accompanied with it. Everything that had happened on Meatsei came to mind, especially her run-in with the jigsaw puzzle building, which caused her to be in this torturous tank in the first place.

Although she couldn't communicate with him and he couldn't do anything to entertain her, she still had enjoyed Toma's company. That was excluding the fact that she hated his enjoyment from previously so much that she began to think of evil plans to use against him. Well, at least it kept her somewhat amused.

Nevertheless, she trusted in his ability to choose which trial was more important. So whatever it was he left for, it must have been extremely critical to the group. She could not imagine what the conflict could be, but she was left assured that it wouldn't cause any harm. One of the other two men must be having a hard time with something, but it wasn't like their time was so limited that they needed help **that** desperately!

In that case, Toma had better have a good excuse as to why he left. If not, she vowed that she would hurt him severely, even more than she had intended to earlier. Then he would know how she felt about going into the tank.

Celipa soon realized what she was thinking, and a smile pursued protection behind the oxygen mask. She felt like she was a younger adult, back when her age ranged around the early twenties if compared to Human years. Back when she first met Toma and Panboukin in the mess hall during a rather interesting party, her life changed. She could not recall what exactly everybody was celebrating, but she did know that she had not been invited to it. That had not settled her anxiety, for that day she had craved attention.

And attention she had been given. Although now she did not regret it as much, there were many times in her life when she certainly wished that she never had snuck into the mess hall that night.

Because the very first person she had met was the team's worst reject, Kacha.

Ever since the day after she first had met Kacha, Celipa hated him. It took a while for the other three of the crew, which at the time consisted of Bardock, Toma, and Panboukin, to feel the same way. A couple months after the incident in the mess hall, Bardock realized the same major flaws that Celipa had. Kacha was then kicked out of the crew. He had never left Celipa alone though; it was because of him that the memory of their first meeting was still fresh in her mind.

Celipa cringed whenever she thought about the first thing she pulled when she met Kacha. To save herself from becoming revealed --she never liked the thought of a bunch of other Saiya-jin ganging up on her-- the first instinct that had come to her mind was flirting. Amazingly enough, Kacha had done the same back. Celipa knew even now that if Toma hadn't shown up at that second she would have had a child of her own. During that time, however, she had been enjoying herself; she was rather displeased when Toma tackled her from behind. Before she even knew who the soon-to-be sub-leader was, she was already thinking up of sinister deeds to take out on him.

Well, at least now she can thank Toma. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have had such a wonderful life clearing out planets. Without him and Panboukin, Bardock would not have tolerated her as long as he did Kacha. Without Toma, Celipa would have been like all the other women on Vegetasei: caring for children and no one else and nothing else but children.

With an exasperated outtake of air, Celipa rested her back more casually on the chair of the dome tank, her shoulders slumping so that her body would be more at ease. The miniature spheres in the sapphire liquid transformed into larger ones when she sighed even more heavily than the first exhale of air. It had just occurred to her that maybe the reason why Bardock had had a hard time appreciating her existence was not because she was of the opposite gender, but because she "felt attracted" to Kacha before she even knew who he was. Then, shortly afterwards, loathed his existence because of the many personality flaws she had found. Maybe Bardock believed that she was like that with everybody, only with different schedules for each person.

Well, if that was true, he was wrong. She was nothing like a traitor, unlike Kacha. She had never abandoned the crew at one of its most critical points and had never told authorities lies about the crew to get what she wanted. It was Bardock's fault for not paying closer attention to his so-called "comrade" and getting into trouble for false truths that he created. Not hers for being right!

It didn't matter anymore, though. As far as she understood, Bardock was either dead or elsewhere in the universe, perhaps many distances away from the headquarters. Until they find him again, she would not worry about how he felt about her. What did matter at the moment was that she had faith in Toma to do the right thing. Not just that, but that she believed in ** all** of her companions, even Bardock.

Because if she knew them well enough, trust was one of the many things that they would never betray.

* * *

The cerulean-tinted scouter started to react with untamed beeps and frantic arrows pointed towards the left corridor. It was an indication that it had found some life forms nearby; Toma now knew that the battle was not too far from the medical center. However, he also knew that since his ears could not catch any sounds of battle from his left or right, he had to continue up the stairs.

Why couldn't the damned elevators work?!

The Saiya-jin sub-leader gasped sharply before bolting up the flickering staircase in front of him, which would lead him to the third floor. He only hoped that it was the floor where Panboukin was fighting the possibly two aliens: the one whom he had dubbed "Prig" and his companion. After all, he had delayed his progress pretty badly already; there was no need or time to make it even worse.

Toma thought he had actually been thinking when he decided that the quickest way to ask Panboukin what floor he was on and take the elevators up. However, Panboukin was busy fighting; judging by his grunts, vulgar language, and Prig's gloating, Toma had decided that it would be best not to interfere. He did not want to be the reason that his companion was hurt anymore. He knew all too well what the guilt felt like. So his first plan went down the drain.

Immediately after turning off the communicator on the scouter, Toma had searched for the closest elevator. He had thought it would be faster if he just took the elevator up to each level until he heard the sound of a bomb exploding on the surface of land. Alas, when he reached the ashen sliding doors of the elevator, it refused to open. The crease between the two doors was too thin for his fingers to squeeze through, and he knew that if he took out his temper on them the elevator would end up unfixable.

It was only then that he realized that if he had taken the elevator, it would take ** longer** than to find Panboukin than if he just ran up the stairs. So the next place Toma dashed for was the staircase. He was lucky he had found it in merely three seconds, for his displeasure was reaching its peak. Before he turned the direction up, however, he had to put his trust into his scouter to help him find the battle easier.

That was why he hoped that the battle was as close as possible: his infuriation was finally getting to the best of him.

Toma hauled a leg over the last two steps and dropped it brutally on top of the platform. With an exhale of stale air, he gave himself only two quick seconds of listening intently for any kind of battle sounds. Luckily --or unluckily-- his serene search was interrupted by a familiar loutish yelp and a high-pitched scream spurting from metal.

Toma's body stiffened. He shifted his pupils to the side of the dim circular corridor, which was met with a rather distasteful sight.

He saw Panboukin in a worse condition than ever before. The plump Saiya-jin's broken armor now had holes all over it, probably from the fight. There were three main places on his body that Toma could see wounds on: Panboukin's right arm, right leg, and left shoulder. They were not scratches but punctures through the epidermis, luckily not the entire limb. So this Prig person and perhaps even his companion had only been fighting with guns and not with energy manipulation.

Panboukin's duel was with two hideous creatures, which were obviously Prig and his companion. They appeared to be reptilian, but Toma noticed that there was little hair at the top of their pineapple shaped heads, where at the top two tiny hills erupted from the scalp. Both of those aliens' chins were the same as their heads: double chin but sloped some distance from the mouth. Everything else about the aliens' faces was Saiya-jin enough. Their bodies were almost no different than Saiya-jin as well. They stood upright and they had tails, except that their tails were thick and trailed behind their bodies instead of draped across their waists. Plus, their skin was a yellowish-green.

Just by their appearances Toma could not tell who was Prig and who was Prig's companion. Determining by clothing wouldn't help, for they both adorned a black leather jumpsuit. The differences between the two of them were easy to spot; therefore, when the time came it would be easier for him to decide who was who, Toma would have no trouble at all. One of them, who seemed to be the only one attacking, was shorter and darker than his companion, who was a sea green alien who stood a head taller.

Since the shorter alien was the only one currently battling Panboukin, Toma automatically assumed that he was the one whom he had dubbed Prig. However, before Toma interfered, he wanted to take only a second to make sure that he knew what he was doing. Panboukin had a few scratches, but nothing that a trip to the tank wouldn't fix, nothing that would have the larger Saiya-jin collapse anytime soon.

As Toma watched, he saw that the darker alien was certainly Prig. He could tell by the tone of his voice while he taunted the Saiya-jin when he spat out words of enragement, and how Prig declared his hatred for the Planet Trade:

"You scum should have gotten out of business long before you actually did!"

Toma decided that he had waited long enough and sidestepped wordlessly to get a better view of Prig and to avoid an accidental ambush on Panboukin. He thrust his arm and outstretched his fingers, allowing a bluish-white fizzling light to form in the center of his palm. Before Prig could get his finger on the trigger, the alien found himself up against the wall with blood escaping his verdant skin.

Bewildered, both of the aliens looked forward to meet Toma's haughty glare. Panboukin twisted his neck so that he could see the sub-leader --Toma saw from the corner of his left eye-- and smirked viciously.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, you dumbass!"

This was not the time to be celebrating; the battle was not finished yet. Although Toma knew this, he still could not help but to taunt the other Saiya-jin back. "It was your fault. You forgot to tell me what floor you were on," he pointed out, and then beamed sardonically. "Besides, I thought you didn't want me here!"

Panboukin had no comeback, and even if he did he wouldn't be able to say it in time. Prig was certainly an impatient one, and muttered deliberately loud, "Great, now there's two of them. The Planet Trade had better not be rebuilding themselves."

Prig's companion was clearly tired of the dispute. "Just leave them alone, Manaloto. They can't do any serious damage to us or the scavenging. Shõgun would probably say the same thing."

"This has nothing to do with our protection!" Prig --rather, Manaloto-- shot back. Toma and Panboukin only watched the two aliens exchange words back and forth. This was a perfect time to attack the aliens, but Toma knew that he had to regard their personal matters. Besides, to strike one when he was down would show signs of weakness and fear, not to mention that it would be disgraceful. "If you want to leave, go ahead. They shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Did he just insult us?" Panboukin growled uncontrollably. It was a rhetorical question; Toma needed not to give him an answer. They both knew that Prig --no, Manaloto-- accused Saiya-jin of being weak. Still, uncontrollable was uncontrollable. Panboukin took offense to the insult, and there was nothing Toma could do to stop the charge he was about to make.

A heavy emphasis was needed on "about to make", for at that split moment Manaloto stepped forward and fired straight at Toma. The sub-leader didn't expect it, and soon suffered the consequences for not paying closer attention to his opponents.

The pain was extraordinary! Throughout his left shoulder spread a bone exploding feeling, as if someone pricked slender needles through his skin so that it would pierce his bone. Toma held back his screams of pain --he was a Saiya-jin; he shouldn't have to show how much he hurt-- and stumbled backwards. If only the shoulder pads hadn't crumbled during the slaughters on Meatsei!

After imagining how bad the pain would be in other places of his body, he realized that if that gun had been aimed for his head, he would have died. However, Manaloto had not aimed for those sections. If he had, Panboukin would have been dead a long time ago. That damned alien was playing with the Saiya-jin to give them a torturous death! That was his plan, but Toma was not going to allow it work. Just because Manaloto had a weapon that can fire long distance and hurt his enemies pretty badly doesn't mean he could win a hand-to-hand combat.

Didn't it?

However, Manaloto did not look the same priggish way he had earlier. Instead, he stood still and wide-eyed at something behind Toma and Panboukin, almost in carefree guilt. Panboukin had noticed this as well and had halted his barrage of assaults. Toma heard him mutter, "**Another** one?"

Toma was weary about turning his back on Manaloto and his companion to confirm Panboukin's statement. What if those aliens did not share the same meaning of "honorable" as the Saiya-jin did? Or, for that matter, the rest of the Planet Trade did? Considering what Manaloto had implied about his feelings for the Planet Trade, Toma decided not to take any chances. But what if the one behind him had the same sense of honor Manaloto did?

It wasn't until Manaloto holster his gun did Toma finally make up his mind. Since the alien appeared to be calmer despite the sinister gleam in his eye, Toma decided to take that quick chance to glance over his shoulder to find this other alien. As he was doing so, Manaloto exclaimed with a laughing voice, "Shõgun, you need to be more careful! If this scum had moved I would have hit you instead!"

The alien that Manaloto had referred to was indeed the same race as him, but Toma noticed some interesting differing characteristics of this Shõgun person. His skin was not any real shade of green; as a matter of fact, it had a dark bluish tint to it. This Shõgun person's height could easily compete with Totepo's, for Toma had to tilt his head so far back that it touched his neck just to meet the alien's eye. Shõgun's emotional features were solemnly smug, as if it were a mix between Bardock's and Panboukin's normal expressions. Was he the elder version of this alien race? Or did he just have a different ethnicity than Manaloto and the other?

"Maybe you ought to watch your aggression, Rato," Shõgun stated serenely.

Toma glanced back at Manaloto --or was it Rato?-- for a second to make sure that he wasn't planning on killing him, before he shifted his pupils back to Shõgun. The alien was glaring straight at him, which made the sub-leader grow quite uncomfortable. It helped none when Shõgun started to scan up and down his body, in which during that time Toma felt just about ready to kill him.

After a quick glance towards Panboukin, Shõgun finally muttered, "Saiya-jin? Aren't they supposed to be extinct?"

"What?" Toma immediately asked with a load of confusion in his voice. The Saiya-jin? Extinct? Meaning that there was nobody left? The four of them --Toma, Panboukin, Totepo, and Celipa-- were the only ones?

Freeza had been successful in killing all of the Saiya-jin, then!

A couple of the questions that Toma had before this run-in were finally answered. The pods were not malfunctioning; Vegetasei really **was** gone, and Freeza was the one who destroyed it. That would be the one way to get rid of the majority of the race. Then many teams of assassins must have been sent to kill those off planet. However, with only a few questions gone, more came in. Why had Freeza ordered the crew off of Vegetasei just to be killed by the assassins? Was it a mistake? Had he destroyed Vegetasei while the four were on Meatsei and Bardock departing for the planet?

Bardock had to be alive, then! But where in the universe could he be? How long had it been since the crew died?

Could Bardock be the last one up until the point when the rest of the crew was resurrected? If so, then Celipa was the last female; they had to be much more alert for her well being from now on.

"But just because you're Saiya-jin," Shõgun said, jerking Toma out of his momentary train of thought, "doesn't mean that I will go easy on you. It is not in my nature to kill loot-stealers, but I will if you get in our way."

"Wait just a second there," Panboukin interrupted with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "You're saying that if we get in your way, **you** will kill **us**? You said so yourself: we are Saiya-jin!"

Shõgun gave the shorter Saiya-jin a haughty glare without moving his head even the slightest bit. "Yes, you are Saiya-jin. Saiya-jin, now instead of an extinct race, an endangered race, with no hope for it to ever be revived again. Only two of you, and no women! No other species in the universe that look the least bit like you to reproduce for hybrids! Perhaps in the remote region, but not in the mainstream of this galaxy. Not to mention that no Saiya-jin can stand a chance against the Butsudo-jin."

Toma finally shook himself out of his shock and managed to regain a steady voice. That was a ridiculous idea that the alien stated! "So you're saying that you're a Butsudo-jin, so that makes you able to defeat us Saiya-jin in a duel? With mere weapons?"

Before the Saiya-jin sub-leader could even laugh at the irony, he felt four tiny spheres of concrete drill themselves into his cheek with a force so great that Toma collapsed shoulder-first into the wall. Surprised, he managed to regain his balance, the pain quickly evaporated and ignored. The only two words that Toma could really think and say distinctly were, "What? How?". Instead of remaining bewildered, both he and Panboukin were just about ready to strike Shõgun back with all the strength a Saiya-jin had.

That is, until Shõgun retorted their oncoming actions with, "You Saiya-jin really are fools; no wonder why you were easily taken out by that comet!"

Toma halted his ambush and signaled for Panboukin to do the same. Reluctantly, the plumper Saiya-jin sulked back to his previous position, knowing that the sub-leader had a very good reason for his command. "A comet?" Toma asked.

"You are a Saiya-jin, and yet you do not know what happened to your home planet? I really do pity you," Shõgun shook his head, but he showed no signs of sympathy. "I find that impossible to believe, but this is really wasting my time. Rato and Inu are finished with this level, I assume, so in order for you to stay out of our way and in order for you to keep your lives, how about a deal?"

"Saiya-jin don't make deals," Panboukin warned with a dangerous tone Toma had never heard before. Turning his head slightly to glance at his comrade, Toma realized that Panboukin may already have an idea what this Butsudo-jin had in mind. Of course, Panboukin may not have an idea; he may just have a feeling that the bargain Shõgun will make would be unfair. Besides, why should they, a couple of Saiya-jin, worry about what a couple of aliens could do?

The run-in with the assassins was something that Toma kept reminding himself of, though. They had taken the team by surprise, of course, much like how Shõgun had when he smacked the sub-leader. Even then the four Saiya-jin stood no chance against them. It had resulted in their deaths; would a fight with these three Butsudo-jin be the same way?

"You don't? Then why do I seem to recall the fact that your race was once associated with the Planet Trade that my friend Rato Manaloto over there seems to loathe so much?"

"There was no deal there, as far as I'm concerned," Toma stated in a low voice. "And it wasn't all of the Saiya-jins' decision."

"Either way, you still would have said yes, wouldn't you?" Shõgun accused light-heartedly. "We are straying from the point; do you or do you not want to make a deal? Would you rather have us ignore you and you ignore us or have a quarrel that could result in your deaths?"

Panboukin snorted. "A quarrel sounds just fine and dandy to me, you bastard."

At the same time, Manaloto yelled from behind them, "They were part of the Planet Trade! Just kill them!"

"Panboukin, let me handle this," Toma ordered quietly after both of them had silenced. "I am second in command, after all, and significantly stronger than you are. I will handle this and you will be quiet." To Shõgun, who was obviously the leader of this band of aliens, he finally gave in. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

Shõgun smiled, which made Toma feel the defeat in his chest so painfully that he nearly winced. If it only weren't for those damned assassins back on Meatsei! "Like I said, Rato and Inu are finished with this level here and on up. Since we're only going to be here for another day, for the night and until tomorrow morning you Saiya-jin will get the top floors. Us Butsudo-jin will have the bottom two floors. To insure that we keep this promise, if we happen to step up on your territory, you will have all the questions I know you have of us answered, and the chance to kill us or turn us into the authorities. If you step onto our territory, we'll simply kill you. I know ** I** would not take that chance, considering how lonely my only friend can get if I died."

"But there are four of us, not just two," Panboukin interjected, much to Toma's aggravation. Could that have been a mistake, or did it help the bargain on the Saiya-jin part?

However, it also reminded Toma of the fact that there was a slight problem with this deal; hopefully it would not take effect immediately. "We have a companion on the first floor in the healing tank. We have to bring her back up."

Shõgun turned more menacing than ever; suddenly, Toma feared that he had agreed to the worst. "I believe this will work for the better if you do not bring your friend to your territory for the night. If the Saiya-jin really are people, they would not put their friend's life on the line for their own well being. So, we will not cause damage to your friend, but we will detain her until we leave. However, if you do step onto the second floor, she will suffer a slow and painful death. You Saiya-jin **are** people, aren't you?"

* * *

Visit the [Hikari no Tabi ][1]website!

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	7. Bad News

Bad News

Inu Taicho had seen the reluctance of the mammalian alien when he agreed to Shõgun's deal, despite the fact that he had his back turned to him. The Saiya-jin's body language and hesitation was all that Taicho needed to see, and all Taicho needed to hear was the Saiya-jin second in command's syncopated voice. This Saiya-jin cared enough for his friend that he did not want to abandon her, unlike the stereotype that he had grown up learning about in his history classes. Unfortunately, the second in command knew he had no choice; Shõgun had pulled the guilt tactic, which worked every single time he used it. delinquent

That is not to say that the other Saiya-jin didn't care for their lost friend; when the second in command agreed to the deal, the plumper Saiya-jin glared at him disgustedly, but said nothing. In fact, when Taicho and Manaloto marched past the two Saiya-jin on their way to the Butsudo-jins' "territory", Taicho caught a glimpse of a flame that was ready to burn an entire planet to ashes on that Saiya-jin's face.

It did not scare these Butsudo-jin, though any other person would have been frightened. Shõgun generally ignored them on the way out and only looked back once to remind them about the deal. It probably wasn't the best move to pull, but there was nothing that the Saiya-jin could do or say; a deal was a deal. Manaloto sneered at them and muttered something about the Saiya-jin deserving this kind of torture. However, Taicho felt sympathy for the two Saiya-jin; surely they must have been worried enough when the girl was in the tank, and now this?

In fact, when Taicho glanced at the second in command's face, he saw the true definition of remorse.

It was not unusual for Inu Taicho to sympathize with the Pairetos' victims. The only reason for him to do so was that he always looked on both point of views --or, in some cases, all point of views. His father had taught him to do that so that he would never be too prejudiced with a situation; his father also taught him: "Everybody is biased with everything. Not even robots, who have no mind of their own. Someone had to have programmed those robots with his biased opinions, right?"

In that case, Taicho had always turned to prying his feet into another's shoes to find answers. A few years back, it had saved three Roisei-jins' lives: Kia Kasukasu, Ragua Nica, and Tamu Pico. All three were now part of the Pairetos. They had been outlaws as well, but they were never successful in outsmarting the Colossal Police. Their skill, however, was their agile speed, which had gotten the Pairetos out of many problems with planets' landscapes. Kone Shõgun was grateful for that, and Taicho had gained more of his trust. Now Shõgun considered Taicho's advice with profound thought.

Taicho knew that Shõgun was prepared to listen to his opinions now; he had sent Manaloto back to the _Senchuu_ for dinner so that the two of them could converse privately. Manaloto, with apparent indecisiveness about the situation the Butsudo-jin were in, reluctantly wandered off. He was not left assured that the two of them were going to linger behind without him, but Shõgun promised him that they would keep no secrets when they returned.

Manaloto knew that Shõgun was good with keeping promises and looked very much relieved when he finally turned the corner to the landing pad. Satisfied, Shõgun turned back to Taicho and said:

"We have to keep that girl restrained somehow. We cannot let her go wandering her way back to her friends."

Taicho did not need to ask Shõgun for the reasoning behind that statement; he knew what it was. The bargain they made with the Saiya-jin would be ruined if she escaped, and there would be nothing holding them back from the Butsudo-jins' "territory". Then, despite how much Shõgun would hate to do it and Taicho to see it, the last four Saiya-jin in the universe would be killed. However, Manaloto would be more than thrilled to take on that responsibility.

Taicho also knew better than to ask Shõgun what they should do. The only reason why he ordered Manaloto back to the _Senchuu_ was probably to figure out how to restrain the Saiya-jin woman. Shõgun probably thought that he could not figure out a good way on his own, and as the famous saying goes: "two heads are better than one".

Yet Taicho lacked an idea of what the Butsudo-jin could do to make sure that this girl would not get away during the night. The three of them needed their sleep. They also had to finish up their scavenging before the night was over. It would not help to have one sleep, one scavenge, and one to take care of the girl! By the time they were finished with finding more treasure, the Colossal Police would have arrived for sure!

"You said that we would not harm her," Taicho said slowly to help come up with an idea. It was better to go about this way so that Shõgun would not know that Taicho had nothing in mind. Besides, he always had something to say.

"I did not say that we would not harm her, Inu," Shõgun told him. "I only said that we would not damage her. It is not like we are too limited with our options."

"Still, we can't lock her up in the _Senchuu_, nor can we lock her up anywhere else. Saiya-jin are Saiya-jin. They will always find a way if they put their hearts into their determination. Isn't that one of the codes of honor? "A heart that believes will become incredulous strength"?"

Shõgun shook his head with a smile. "Not only that, but they have an extraordinary power that the Butsudo-jin do not have: spirit and energy manipulation. It can cut through most anything. That girl would break the _Senchuu_ if we locked her up in there."

"And then the Colossal Police would find us," were the words that neither of them needed to say. Taicho knew that even though he had suggested that the idea of imprisoning the Saiya-jin was absurd, he never truly meant it. He knew now, luckily, that that plan would not work, for he trusted Shõgun's information. Kone Shõgun was almost never wrong with his data or his judgment. There was never a speculation as to why he led the Pairetos and set all the rules.

"One of us would have to watch her, but wouldn't that take up a lot of our time and energy?" Taicho suggested. He did not like this mentioned plan, but since he could not come up with anything else, he might as well mention it. Shõgun would object anyway, wouldn't he?

"Explain."

Taicho glanced at him, hiding the bewilderment that was contained in his spirit. Shõgun was actually considering that ludicrous plan? "Well, the way I figure it, one person can watch the girl. The other person can continue with the search, while another eats his dinner and gets some sleep so he can have enough energy to watch her when it's his turn. The problem is that with one person looking for the treasure at a time, the job won't be finished before morning. We have to leave tomorrow, don't we?"

"You doubt your own intelligence Inu," Shõgun muttered in amusement. "You know that is very unhealthy. The only problem I see with your plan is the searching part. We can search with two people: you and me. In fact, the Roisei-jin should be back in a couple of hours. They can help with the rest of the search."

"The Roisei-jin are coming here? I thought that we were going to meet them at the planet," Taicho contemplated orally.

"They have finished with their job already, so they are going to bring the _Uchuu_ back here instead of the _Senchuu_ going to the _Uchuu_," Shõgun said. "It probably isn't the best option considering that we would have to life the _Senchuu_ up to get the _Uchuu_ connected, but it is best not to get those Roisei-jin bored."

Taicho frowned. The Roisei-jin were much more violent than the Butsudo-jin, so if they ever had to watch the Saiya-jin girl surely Shõgun's promise would be broken! "Should we warn them about the circumstances here? We can't let them come unprepared."

Shõgun knew what Taicho was getting at --Taicho could tell by the amusement in his facial expression-- and answered, "No, no, they will not have to take care of the Saiya-jin. Rato seems to be in the mood for a little revenge against the Planet Trade. All we have to do is give him some ground rules and he would be all set to make sure that the Saiya-jin girl is detained until the morning. The Roisei-jin will not have to know about the Saiya-jin's existence at all."

"Would that be a good idea? What if Kia, Tamu, or Ragua finds one of the Saiya-jin stepping over into our territory?"

The leader of the Pairetos hesitated with the same sinister atmosphere he always carried when he was in deep contemplation. Taicho was not frightened of it anymore; after a couple of months of being on the Paireto team both he and Manaloto grew used to it. The Roisei-jin, however, were not used to it, and tensed with irritation every time Shõgun did so. What they didn't know --and neither did Manaloto-- was that when Shõgun had that expression, someone other than himself had made a good point. It was never anything bad.

"We will not tell them much," Shõgun stated after a moment of silence. "We will only tell them that there are three other aliens upstairs. If one of them comes to the second floor, they should trap him and tell me. They should not kill him at all."

"We won't tell them the other part of the deal?" Taicho asked curiously. "About the girl?"

Shõgun didn't answer, but smiled and started heading down the staircase. "Go back to the _Senchuu_, Taicho, and tell Manaloto our plan. When he is finished with his dinner, you go ahead and have yours and tell him to come here. I will tell him the rules when he arrives."

Taicho knew what that meant. The Roisei-jin were not going to know that the Saiya-jin still existed. They were not going to know that the Butsudo-jin were holding one of those loot stealers hostage. They were not going to know that the reason why Manaloto was helping was because he was going to turn out to be a guard. All they were going to know was half of the deal, which wasn't even half of the truth.

Why did Shõgun have to keep this so much of a secret from them?

* * *

Panboukin felt as though he could berate Toma for the rest of his life and into Hell. Toma was normally a good sub-leader, but sometimes the crew would just be better off without him having a higher position than them. Sometimes the crew would be best if Bardock was around instead of Toma. If Bardock had been in Toma's boots during the negotiation, there would have been no negotiation; Bardock would have killed the Butsudo-jin without a problem. That Shõgun fellow was just boasting anyhow about the Butsudo-jins' power and strength.

Why had Toma suddenly become so cautious? One blow never proved anything; it was just an intimidation. It was always an intimidation! Toma should have known that. If he was a true Saiya-jin, why hadn't he fought back?

Toma had had two choices: agree to the compromise or settle the dispute in a duel. It did not make sense to Panboukin why Toma had chosen the former.

The only reason why Panboukin kept his mouth shut while he led the sub-leader to Totepo's location was a simple one: Toma showed that he regretted his decision. There was no way that he could take it back for it was far too late to do anything "honorable" to help the situation. By now the Butsudo-jin had their hands on Celipa, and they would most likely be able to know somehow if the Saiya-jin went into "their" territory or not.

But that was not what Panboukin was concluding; it was only what he thought that the sub-leader was thinking. Panboukin thought the opposite. Shõgun's promise was just a bunch of lies to make sure the Saiya-jin wouldn't "get in their way". After all, Celipa was in the healing tank. She would be safe in there, wouldn't she? Not to mention that Toma had left her scouter in the medical room, and Panboukin was willing to bet everything that the Butsudo-jin had no clue where the medical center was! They would not find her before she walked out of the tank and put on her scouter. Within four hours at the most, Celipa would be back with the crew.

It still did not mean that Panboukin was not angry with Toma. His decision was foolish and selfish. His decision was not a good representation of what the Saiya-jin were all about! Saiya-jin do not make deals; it did not matter what King Vegeta had done. In the beginning, it was for the good of the race. It was a **good** deal until Freeza destroyed them all.

Panboukin now stood just inches away from the opened doorway of the control room, waiting for Toma to go in first. Of course, Toma stopped walking right next to his companion and asked, to be sure, "Is this it?"

Panboukin thought of that as a rather stupid question; it was the top floor and they were at the end of the corridor. He refused to answer the question. "You tell Totepo about what just happened. It was all your doing anyhow," he accused, attempting almost hopelessly to detain his temper.

He still did not want to look at the sub-leader, but he could almost feel Toma's shock and remorse after he said those words.

"We can't-" Toma started, but shook his head and walked through the door.

After a couple seconds, Panboukin finally entered the control room as well. Everything looked the same as last time he came in here to give Totepo his scouter: room dimly lit, bitter-smelling air, dust over the blankets that covered the computers that Totepo didn't even touch, and the giant Saiya-jin himself still behind the same console. Since Toma had never been in here before, Panboukin knew that the sub-leader was too busy trying to adjust before he could tell Totepo what was going on. Panboukin doubted that it was just an excuse.

Neither one of them had to call out to Totepo to tell him that they were here and needed to tell him something. He had known right when Panboukin stepped into the control room, for he turned around and stared at the two companions expectantly. Panboukin just met his eye before shifting his gaze to Toma to tell Totepo that it was not his place to tell him what had just happened and why Celipa was not with them.

Toma still hesitated to tell even after he noticed that both of the other two Saiya-jin staring at him. The sub-leader's face hardened, and his lips pursed together to show his resistance. No words were spoken for a while; Panboukin figured that Toma would tell when he felt ready to tell Totepo without realizing all of a sudden how foolish his decision was. Toma should figure it out now. However, Panboukin also noticed that the silence was unsettling for Totepo, and it was probably best not to mess with ** any** Saiya-jin that had just finished a strenuous day behind a computer researching.

"How is Celipa doing?" Totepo asked, still staring at Toma.

Panboukin saw the sub-leader exhaled with relief and figured that all he needed was someone to encourage him along with questions he could easily answer!

"She's doing fine. I give her about another thirty minutes and she'll be all healed," he informed both of them, since Panboukin had not known about this. However, this was not what he needed to tell Totepo. With a glance towards Panboukin, Toma cringed, and quickly reverted his gaze towards the taller Saiya-jin. "We probably won't see her for another few hours though. We," Toma paused for a second, "ran into a little trouble."

To add perhaps a little amusement and irony to the situation, Panboukin shifted his eyes towards Totepo to see his reaction. He expected for the elder Saiya-jin to have the same, indifferent expression, but was surprised to see that Totepo grew immediately concerned and solemnly showed it.

"What kind of trouble?"

Toma saw that expression as well and chuckled a little, having the feeling that he knew what Totepo feared. "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with the tank or her. It's just that, well," he hesitated for a moment, struggling to find words to continue the carriage of information. "We ran into-" he stopped again. That wasn't how he wanted to word it, Panboukin assumed. "We're not alone on this planet. There are other aliens who are stronger than us. And, well, they've decided to --this is going to sound stupid-- detain Celipa to keep all of us out of each other's way."

"You agreed to this?"

"I had no choice."

"Like Hell you didn't!" Panboukin snapped; his temper had finally dispersed out of living existence. "That Shõgun fellow, he was just messing with your mind! I'm sure we would have no problem getting rid of him and those other ugly reptilians!"

Toma glared at him with fiery eyes, not at all in the mood to deal with Panboukin's protests or his reminder of what the plump Saiya-jin might have considered a mistake. "Would you really want to take that risk of getting ourselves killed again? Didn't the assassins back on Meatsei teach you anything at all?"

"Aren't we supposed to take risks? Aren't we **warriors**?! Why'd you let one hit get you all freaked out, anyhow?"

The sub-leader kept his gaze solid and his voice steady, though his fists trembled a little when he counterattacked with the words, "Why did you let one blast get you killed?"

Panboukin, taken aback, ceased his onslaughts for a moment. Toma did have a point, but Panboukin was not completely convinced. After all, just because the assassins managed to kill them did not mean that those Butsudo-jin had the same abilities. Before he could use that as his argument, Toma directed his attention back to Totepo, hoping for a response. Totepo gave not a single objection to any of the other two's opinions.

"Did you find out anything about what happened before?" Toma questioned the elder man. The only response he gave was an even solemner look than before.

"I don't think this is the right time to let you know of anything," Totepo said quietly.

"That bad?"

Totepo nodded. Panboukin turned his head to look at the tallest Saiya-jin, and despite his current feelings, managed a smirk. "It can't be worse than what we just told you, and what we just learned about Vegetasei."

"Vegetasei is gone, I know," Totepo informed them. "The computers say it was caused by a collision with another planet, but knowing the reason why we were killed could tell us otherwise."

""A collision with another planet", you say?" Toma asked, almost ready to burst out laughing. Panboukin did not blame him; what Totepo was telling them contradicted what Shõgun had told them. He was more ready and willing to believe his companion rather than someone who threatened Celipa's life! "We heard that it was destroyed by a comet, but neither makes sense. It was definitely that damned bastard Freeza."

"And I know about Meatsei, too," Totepo told them. Both of the younger Saiya-jin glanced up at him with curiosity settling into their minds. It wasn't going to be some boring, political explanation, would it? "There were no plans for settlement at all. The planet wasn't even for sale. It was an assassination mission."

It was the rage of the sub-leader's turn to go out of control. "An assassination mission?! Betraying the Saiya-jin race for all their hard work was one thing, but for us --why the Hell us? We followed orders, we carried out our missions more than successfully, we were loyal; why did we not deserve to die on our home planet? Why didn't we deserve to die on Vegetasei while those lazy bastards who weren't on purging crews and did practically nothing compared to us get to? Damned that bastard Freeza --he deserves a more painful death than what any of us can imagine!"

Panboukin, too, thought that it wasn't fair and cursed with more vulgarity than Toma had. However, he knew that Totepo was not finished; there was something more that needed to be said. Accordingly, Panboukin managed barely to quiet himself down with Toma following suit only a few moments afterwards.

"Bardock tried to stop Freeza from destroying Vegetasei," Totepo continued, his face growing noticeable uneasy, "but as we know, he failed. When someone tries to stop Freeza but fails..."

Totepo stopped himself there, for his expression noted that he could not continue that last sentence. Both Panboukin and Toma knew what that meant, and neither was happy with it. Toma was the most upset and made no attempt to hide it.

"First Celipa's life is threatened, now Bardock is-" Toma, too, could not finish the sentence, and instead stormed out of the control room with fury leaving behind only the words: "God damn it to Hell!"

Panboukin came close to yelling at Toma about whose fault it was that Celipa was in the situation she was in now, but Totepo stopped him by shaking his head visibly from the corner of Panboukin's eye. Before Panboukin could make a remonstrating move, Toma had already left the room. The sub-leader was indeed not in the right disposition to have to deal with anybody reminding him that he was put to blame for Celipa's pain; if Toma wasn't in the right mood, it was best not to test him.

* * *

Visit the [Hikari no Tabi ][1]website!

   [1]: http://violentpeacefulchild.tripod.com/



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